Have you ever heard of the word yabancı, which also lends its name to this platform? If you’ve ever visited Istanbul, you’ve probably heard the term yabancı used to refer to a “foreigner.” If you’ve ever asked a carpet seller in the Kapalı Çarşı (Grand Bazaar) for directions, you might have overheard them referring to you as a yabancı, or perhaps you’ve been called this term at the institution where you study. I’m sure you’ve experienced this in some form. For those who may not know, or for those who, as I’ve observed, think of this word as some kind of racism, let me make it clear from the beginning: yabancı is a neutral term. It is rarely used with disrespect. If you know people at all, you’ll probably guess they can be more creative than using yabancı to exclude someone.
Indeed, in Turkish, “foreigner” and “stranger” are the same word: yabancı. This word is used for both objects and ideas to mean “unknown, unfamiliar” (stranger) and also for people to mean “someone who is not from here” (foreigner). Therefore, it is quite natural for you to be familiar with this word. My goal here is not to address a social issue or the evil of human existence. I simply wanted to learn the etymology of this word, which I assume you are not a “stranger” to, and share that with you. This short article will do just that.
Let me spoil the surprise right away: The word yabancı has Persian origins, meaning it is not originally Turkish. To explain briefly how it made its way into Turkish:
As you know, the Republic of Turkey was founded on the shoulders of the Ottoman Empire. Since we are almost the same society, our language remained the same: Turkish! According to the first written documents of Turkish, Orkun-Göktürk Kitabeleri (the Orkhon Inscriptions), which are believed to have been written between 732 and 735, Turkish is a 1300-year-old language. Although Chinese sources mention the languages of Turkish tribes as far back as 2000 years ago, there are no written records from that period, so the accepted “Turkish” history starts with the Orkun Kitabeleri. These inscriptions are located in Central Asia because the lands where the Turks later settled in Anatolia were their first homes. Before the 11th century, many Turkish tribes were introduced to Islam and, as a result, Arabic and Persian, which would influence the Turkish language in the following centuries. Starting from the 10th century, these three languages began exchanging words. Since this is not a history lesson, let’s fast forward!
After the 11th century, Turks began settling in Anatolia, first as Selçuklular (Seljuk tribes). When the Seljuk Empire came to an end, the Ottomans, one of the Turkish tribes, dominated the others and started unifying them under the name of the Ottoman Empire. Since that day, Turkish has interacted with Persian, which is spoken in the country we now call Iran, and has evolved accordingly.
Now, let’s focus on the formation of the word yabancı. It is derived from yaban or biyaban (in Persian, يابان / بيابان), which means “barren, desolate place, desert, steppe.” This word is derived from the Persian root yāb (یاب), meaning “barren, useless, empty.” The word yaban is found in Lügati written by Ibn-i Mühenna in the second half of the 13th century, while biyaban appears in the earliest Turkish source, Kutadgu Bilig, written by Yusuf Has Hacip in the 11th century.
These examples should provide a rough idea of the word’s age. In Turkish, yaban has evolved to mean “a place where no one lives,” “wild nature, far from settled life,” or, in colloquial speech, “someone who is not from the local community.”
In fact, Yakup Kadri’s famous novel Yaban in Turkish literature, which describes the cultural clash between villagers and urban dwellers, is quite well-known. As you can see, being a yabancı does not necessarily mean belonging to another nation. Even if you are a Turk and go to a small town where you are not recognized, you may still be referred to as a yabancı by the local people.
Returning to the word yabancı, it is the form of yaban with the suffix -cı/-ci. In Turkish, this suffix often gives the meaning of “someone who does this action, is responsible for it, or possesses this characteristic.” According to Pavet de Courteille’s Dictionnaire Turc Oriental (Eastern Turkish Dictionary), the word’s origin dates back more than 500 years ago.
Now, if we move past the history and focus on the important part: yabancı means “someone from another nation, someone of another state’s nationality.” I’m not saying this because it’s my native language, but as you can see from the languages that Turkish has borrowed from, it’s quite a rich language, and if you research the word yabancı via the Turkish Language Institution, you’ll see that there are six different meanings in addition to the one I gave. However, for those who have come to visit Turkey or decided to stay after seeing it, the word will always be used in its first meaning. So, if you hear a Turk calling someone yabancı, they are probably referring to a “foreigner.”
I wrote this article both because I was curious about the word that gave its name to our platform and to clear up any misunderstandings from people who were once called yabancı by me but are now friends. Adding a bit of history and literature is the result of my talkative nature. I wish everyone a life filled with yabancılar (foreigners/strangers), as I believe what adds excitement to life is all the unknown things and people we have yet to meet.
